Caged Bird
by Duchess of Discourse
Summary: AU When Bella, a maid, is mistaken for the reincarnation of Prince Edward's dead lover, she is put on a path that will lead her to places she never expected to go.Is it a simple case of Fate...or something else? BellaXJacob


Caged Bird

Chapter One: A Brief History

Isabella

They had lost.

Isabella Swan knew it would happen as soon as she had seen them on their horses coming over the hill. She could do nothing; she knew that her duty lay in comforting her lady, Jessica, who was at the moment crying hysterically.

"Shh" she hushed the sobbing noble woman whom she had served since she was fourteen. They were seated in two chairs that they usually used for weaving by the window. The sun was beginning to set and the battle was almost over.

Isabella shut her eyes tightly and just wished that it would all go away, but it was impossible for her to shut the screaming of her people and the clanging of swords from her head.

She was powerless as usual, but she was strong. She possessed the quiet strength that was necessary for women to have. No woman in her country would assume that she had any rights; they were worth very little, similar to live stock.

Isabella knew she had to be brave, she had to be strong, and that was nothing new.

She remembered when she had been only ten years old. She had been one of many children. She remembered the day that her mother could no longer feed eight children. She had been disposed of because she was a middle child, too young to work, but too old to be babied. She assumed that some of her other siblings had been sold as well, but she could not be sure. In any case, she was the first, the one that her mother had hated the most.

Her mother had told her to come with her on a walk and had taken her to a man that had appraised her and then given her mother a bag. Her mother had not seemed very concerned about her at all and had turned and left without a word or a backwards glance.

The man had then tied her hands behind her back and tied her ankles together and then hoisted her like a sack of grain into the back of his wagon. She had never seen her family again.

The man had barely fed her for a week and when she thought that she could take no more, they arrived at the largest city that she had ever seen.

There were so many people, different people, people that looked like her, and some that had skin the color of copper, or even people with the same color skin as the color of her neighbor's mare, a deep, rich brown.  
The man had untied her ankles and commanded her to walk. She was put up for auction as a slave and was bought by a richly dressed man. She would come to know him as Atticus. He was the head of the kitchens at the castle.

She would find out later that she had been taken to the capital, the city of Galiid, which she knew was far from her village.

Atticus had taken her to the castle then, it was a short distance from the capital and it was a beautiful building of stone that was surrounded by beautiful gardens. But most of this was shielded from outsiders by a huge wall.

Atticus had looked over and seen her awed expression and commented, "Big, isn't it. It's never been breached and I doubt it ever will be. Those walls are built of strong stuff."

Isabella could have snorted at his overconfident words now, but at the time they had been a small comfort to her when she was at such an uncertain time of her life.

To be sure, being a young female slave in the castle had been difficult and hard to bear, but she had always had protection.

The cooks and servants took care of her and saved her from more than one over eager noble.

She had grown up with a sever distrust of the lords and ladies of the court and when she had been a young teenage girl, just fourteen, one of the noble girls had snuck down to the kitchens to eat.

Isabella had been scrubbing all the pots in preparation for a wedding feast the next day.

The girl looked to be about her age and had copper hair and the palest skin she had ever seen, even paler than her own. She was fashionable skinny, and looked almost unhealthy.

When the girl saw her she jumped, "Oh I'm sorry I didn't see you," she glanced around nervously. "They won't let me eat anything, I'm getting married tomorrow, and they want me to look good in my dress. Do you mind if I just have a little bit of food."

Isabella nodded slowly, the poor girl looked half starved, and she was getting married so young, she felt an immense amount of sympathy for the girl.

She remerged through a cupboard where she knew that the bread was kept and pulled out a half eaten loaf.

She hesitantly placed it out on one of the food preparation tables and the girl picked it up and began to slowly eat it after whispering a quiet thank you.

After a minute of silence, the girl asked "What's your name?"

"Isabella"

The girl nodded to her and gave her a small smile. "Thank you again, Isabella." Then she was gone.

She would not find out until a week later that she was to become the girl's maid.

That girl from the kitchens was Lady Jessica Ashwood. She had wanted a female companion and had remembered the girl who had come to her aid in the kitchens.

From that day forward she served as Jessica's maid and confidant.

Now all she could do was be brave for her mistress, but most importantly for herself.

Isabella could hear shouting of some of the palace guards on the stairs; she knew that they would be here any moment.

She began to think of what was to be done to her and Laura. Would they be raped? Tortured? Killed?

She didn't know, but she couldn't stop thinking about.

The noise was getting louder and she knew that they were surely going to be found very soon.

Isabella tried to slow her heart beats. She attempted to count them.

One. Two. Three.

She heard the shouts of the guards that the walls had been breached.

Four. Six. Eight.

She heard the crashing of glass that meant they had taken the inner hall.

Eleven. Fifteen. Nineteen.

She heard the heavy footfalls of running men thunder down the corridor, and screams of other nobles and servants.

Thirty. Forty. Fifty.

BANG! The door was being pushed at and pulled. It would only be a matter of minutes until they had the door open, and she and Jessica would be lost.

Her mistress's sobs, which had previously quieted, returned ten-fold at the sound of the door being hacked away by what sounded like an axe.

Then, the door, and everything that they had ever known was broken at their feet. A sliver of wood had landed on her skirt.

It was over and Isabella attempted to resign herself to her Fate.


End file.
